The Talking France podcast is back from its summer break with a new episode looking at France's difficult summer, why the country relies so heavily on volunteer firefighters, the political and social challenges facing France as September approaches - and why French people love to correct foreigners.
Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France's Emma Pearson and Emma Albright to discuss France's brutal summer weather and how that will affect food prices, updates on the 2027 presidential race and one of the country's favourite pastimes: correcting someone else's French.
You can find the Talking France podcast on Spotify, Apple or the French platform Deezer or on World Radio Paris. You can download it here or listen to the full episode on the link below.
We start by discussing the wildfires and record-breaking heatwaves that hit France this summer, with fires burning tens of thousands of hectares across the country.
Firefighters are due to mobilise in Paris on September 29th, so we take a look at what is driving the protest and why France relies so heavily on sapeurs-pompiers volontaires (part-time firefighters).
